Denver Cutthroats head coach Derek Armstrong gives some instructions to his players in an April 9 game against Tulsa. The Cutthroats open the CHL finals Friday against the Allen Americans. (Seth McConnell, The Denver Post)

The Denver Cutthroats had some time to gear up for the Central Hockey League finals, but only found out Wednesday night who they would match up against.

The test could not be tougher. The defending champion Allen Americans are heading to Denver for Games 1 and 2 Friday and Saturday at the Denver Coliseum to play for the Ray Miron President’s Cup — named for the one of the CHL founders.

Allen dispatched the Quad City Mallards 3-2 in Game 7 of its semifinal series Wednesday night in Allen, Texas, which is 25 miles north of Dallas.

Allen and Denver already know each other well: The Cutthroats lost to them last year in the first round of the playoffs in five games. Allen went on to be crowned champs.

Overcoming the Americans’ experience is one of the biggest keys to winning the cup, according to Cutthroats head coach Derek Armstrong.

“We have to compete, they’re strong and they know how to win,” Armstrong said. “That will be their biggest asset. We have a good young group here and it’s a good learning experience for the players.”

The Cutthroats, as the No. 2 seed is this year’s playoffs, will have the luxury of home ice advantage as they finished ahead of the No. 3-seeded Allen. They also bested Allen in the regular season, going 4-3 against the Americans. However, three of those games went to overtime with the Cutthroats winning twice.

Denver players don’t have a lot of championship experience, but some of the veterans on the team know that this can be a rare opportunity.

League MVP Garett Bembridge has played 13 seasons at a variety of levels in leagues all over the world, yet this will be only his second-ever finals appearance. He lost in the CHL finals with Wichita in 2012.

“You have to take advantage of this, it doesn’t happen very often,” Bembridge said. “We have lots of guys who have never been to a final, lots of guys who never won anything. This is our opportunity. Hopefully we’ll have a little extra edge.”

The Cutthroats advanced to the finals by beating the No. 7 seed Tulsa Oilers in six games in the first round and they ousted the No. 8 seed Arizona Sundogs in five games in the semifinals.

Both series had different personas as Tulsa relied on finesse and their skill players to try and outscore Denver, while Arizona brought physicality to try and get the Cutthroats off their game. While neither plan worked for either team, Allen has the ability to bring both forms to the ice. Cutthroats players say they’ll be ready for a tough series.

“I expect it to be a war back there,” defenseman Sean Zimmerman said. “It’s been that way the last time we played them. I hope that’s the way it is, it will fit my game real well.”

Zimmerman, a Colorado native, added that he personally took away a lot from last year’s playoff loss to Allen and is ready to make amends this year.

“I think last year, learning experience for everybody,” he said. “I let my emotions get the best of me, took some bad penalties because of it.”

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.